Seal cups, also called cup seals, can be used in wellbore applications to seal against differential pressures in a pipe string. A seal cup includes a base and a tubular wall or skirt extending therefrom. A seal cup can be deployed downhole in a non-sealing configuration, but will tend to expand and promote sealing against the pipe wall in which it is positioned when exposed to a differential pressure and, in particular, a pressure differential with a greater pressure at its tubular wall end.
Furthermore, the differential pressure across the seal cup gives rise to axial load that must be reacted to prevent the seal cup from displacing in the direction of differential pressure. In certain applications where it is desirable to position the seal cup in a fixed position, it is necessary to provide an anchoring mechanism on the tool to work with the cup.